Six Months Plus Some
by RainbowNinjaD
Summary: Roxas throws Demyx's 21st birthday party at Axel's place. Axel doesn't like that very much.


Another rewrite of this one. A few additions here and there, and the ending is completely different.

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A redhead laid sprawled on the couch, clicking through the channels on the TV. One hundred and fifty channels and guess what? You're right, nothing to watch, or at least nothing that interested the redhead right now. He left the channel on the Food Network and stared at the chef making chicken quesadilla pinwheels on screen. He put the clicker on the messy coffee table and dropped his arm to the floor, reaching a long fingered skinny hand into a potato chip bag that had been sitting beneath the table for over a week. The redhead chewed a couple chips at a time, eventually choking them, resulting in a cough fit. He shot up and grabbed the nearest drink: a three hour old can of pop. He chugged the contents, nose wrinkling from the warm flat liquid. After he got through his near death experience, and a huge belch, he plopped back down on the couch and started at the screen. He reached a hand up and absentmindedly messed with the necklace that his boyfriend made him with his 6 month sobriety chip. It'd been a few days over 6 months, but who was counting.

The doorbell rang, the catchy little tune echoing through the cluttered living room and through the rest of the small apartment. The redhead ignored the doorbell, sure that his boyfriend, whom he assumed was puttering around the apartment, would get the door. The boy didn't show and the doorbell rang again. The man casually looked at the door, waiting for his blond to come to answer. The doorbell rang twice this time, followed by a thump. The redhead sat up slowly and looked at the door, confused. No ring came again, nor another thump, but he got up, stretched his long legs, and made his way cautiously to the door. He pressed his ear against the door and heard quiet muffled cursing coming from the other side. He slowly cracked the door open and a smirk rose to his face at what he saw.

His little blond boyfriend stood holding his foot while cursing under his breath, hopping around all the bags of groceries that surrounded his feet. The redhead held in a laugh and opened the door very slowly, trying to avoid the death glare as long as possible. Unfortunately for the man, the door creaked really loudly and the blond turned, the glare already upon his face. The redhead's blood ran cold as his boyfriend stabbed daggers into his face with his deep blue eyes. The boy stopped hopping and limped over to the man.

"Get the groceries, Axel," the blond growled then limped into the house past the redhead. Axel sighed and grabbed as many bags as he could. _Well_ , he thought, _that would explain why Roxas hadn't answered the door._ The redhead made his way back into the small apartment and set the bags down on the floor before making another trip to get the rest. When all the groceries were inside and put away, courtesy of Axel, he returned to the couch for a little more time in from of the TV.

Half an hour later, Roxas stumbled out of the room, his freshly clean hair dripping onto his shirt. He spotted the redheaded drone on the couch, eating chips from a bag under the table.

"How can you keep this place like a pig sty? It's disgusting," he spat at the redhead, who in turn looked at him for a split second then continued with his TV watching. The blond sighed and moved in front of the TV. "Look," he said, hands still on his hips. "I know you're not excited about this party tonight, but it's Demyx's birthday, and I promised that we'd throw him a karaoke party." The redhead sighed and tried to look past Roxas. Said blond made a frustrated noise, grabbed the remote, and turned the television off. Axel groaned and sat up.

"I was watching that," he said, rubbing his eyes before resting his arms on his knees.

"That's all you ever do now days Axel," the blond in front of him stated. The redhead shrugged and sat back. The blond huffed and stomped off to the kitchen, mumbling something about having to clean everything by himself. Axel stared into the spackle on the ceiling, pulling out pictures in the shapes. It's not like he didn't want to spend time with his friends, but karaoke? Really? Come on, it's so childish and lame. Then again, it is Demyx's party. The redhead closed his eyes, listening to the banging of cabinets in the kitchen. He opened his eyes again when his boyfriend entered the room, the rustling of a trash bag cutting through the silence. Roxas started stuffing things into the bag, an assortment of cans, bottles, paper plates, and god only knows how old pizza slices. Axel slowly reached down to save the bag of chips under the table, but the blond got to them first.

"I don't think so. If you keep eating these you're going to get sick," Roxas said before stuffing them into the bag. Axel groaned inwardly before laying his head back again. His boyfriend finished cleaning in the living room and moved to the kitchen. Axel stared up at the spackle again, getting very bored very fast, and decided to go annoy his boyfriend. It took a whole two seconds for the freakishly tall man to jump up and run to the kitchen. The blond was in the middle of getting something from the fridge when he felt arms wrap around his waist, making him jump and bump his head against a shelf in the fridge.

A chuckle came from the owner of the arms and they were removed, leaving the blond to stand up straight, hold his head, and glare at the other. Axel held up his hands in his defense.

"I didn't mean to scare you," he said. Roxas turned back to the fridge, but Axel wrapped his arms around him again, holding the blond hostage from the task at hand. The blond felt his boyfriend's lips press gently against the back of his head, a blush creeping up on his face. "I'm sorry," the redhead whispered into the blond's lemon-scented hair. Roxas turned and buried his face in Axel's chest, inhaling the scent he was addicted to: the scent of apples and cinnamon, the scent of Axel.

"I need to start getting things ready," Roxas whispered and reluctantly pulled away from the embrace, only to be pulled right back into it. He tried again but the redhead tightened his grip.

"Do we have to do this tonight? Can't it wait until, I don't know, next year?"Axel took another deep breath of his blond's scent. Roxas chuckled a little and looked up into striking green eye.

"I promised Demyx. It's his 21st birthday Axe, kind of a big thing, and he wanted a karaoke party. Besides, he's your best friend. Don't you want him to be happy?" Roxas raised an eyebrow at the redhead, who in turn rolled his eyes.

"Of course I want him to be happy, but I wanted to do something else tonight…" He trailed off, a sly grin spreading across his face. The blond looked at him in slight confusion. Axel slowly moved his hand to the blond's ass. Realization crossed Roxas's face and he broke free of Axel's grasp, backing up into a counter.

"A-Axel! We did that last week! " He said, blushing deeply. Axel's grin got bigger as he crept towards the blond, eventually holding his hostage against the counter. The redhead bent down to the blond's ear.

"Roxy, you know that's not nearly enough to satisfy me," he whispered huskily, licking the shell of his boyfriend's ear. The blond turned beet red and attempted to push the redhead away, ultimately failing. Axel pushed a long leg between the other's short ones, successfully pinning him to the counter. He kissed his way from Roxas' ear to his neck, kissing it gently. "You know how much I love to see you, and how much I love to make you moan out my name," the redhead said into the blond's skin with a slight smile, kissing the pale flesh beneath his lips again. This time his blond didn't move, but when Axel glanced up, his face even redder than before and his eyes were snapped shut. The redhead barely touched the blond's lips with his own and much to his surprise, the blond leaned forward to press their lips together more firmly.

The kiss was slow and long, the expert moves of their lips heating the room up. Roxas wrapped his arms around his redhead's neck, and Axel lifted Roxas so that he sat on the counter. Axel broke the kiss and attached his lips to the blond's neck again, suckling lightly. Roxas gripped the redhead's shirt when long hands slid under his shirt, fingers ghosting over his skin. When one of those fingers lightly grazed one of his nipples, Roxas snapped out of it. He pushed the redhead away and jumped down from the counter.

"Whoa, wait. We can't do this right now, Ax," He said, clearly flustered. "There's too much to do and we only have an hour and a half until everyone get's here." The blond's face was too cute. His eyebrows were pulled into a look of worry and a blush still remained on his face from their previous actions. Axel advanced towards him but the blond backed away. "I'm serious Axel, not right now," he said firmly. The redhead scoffed.

"Rox, we have plenty of time to do everything. I'll help you, I promise, but only if you stop leaving me with blue balls every time something happens." Axel ran his fingers through his hair. The blond looked away from him, but the redhead embraced his waist again. Long fingers gently lifted the blond's face, and Axel leaned down to kiss the blond. Roxas moved away.

"We have too much to do," the blond whispered. Axel looked at him for a second, seemingly stuck in the position Roxas left him in, before dropping his hands.

"Fine. Do whatever you have to," he said before walking away. Roxas stood in the kitchen looking at the floor until he heard the front door open. He rushed to the kitchen doorway, stopping when he saw Axel halfway out the front door.

"Where are you going?" Roxas asked. The redhead looked at him with a melancholy expression.

"Out," Axel said, grabbing the keys.

"When will you be back?" A pit opened in Roxas's stomach.

"Eventually," The redhead stated, slamming the door on his way out. Roxas wiped tears from his eyes and sighed. That was always the answer.

Determined not to let Demyx's birthday be ruined, Roxas set everything up before all of his friends arrived. The redhead still wasn't home. Everyone came and had a great time, except for Roxas who spent the entirety of the party thinking about Axel. Demyx asked him where the redhead was, to which Roxas replied, "Out." Demyx gave him a worried look, but Roxas smiled at him, trying to reassure the other blond that everything was fine.

After horrible renditions of popular songs, including Sora singing Lady Gaga's Bad Romance 3 times in a row, everyone packed up and left, leaving Roxas to pick up the house again. Sora and Riku offered to stay and help, mostly to keep the blond company, but Roxas turned their help away. He decided to worry about the mess tomorrow, opting to lay down in bed instead.

The bedroom was fragranced with the redhead and Roxas laid there breathing it all in. He wondered if Axel was alright. The last time Axel relapsed wasn't pretty, and he didn't want the redhead to get hurt or, even worse, hurt anyone else. He'd been doing so good for a while…. Roxas hoped that time wasn't wasted.

An hour or two later, Axel stumbled through the front door, gulping from a bottle of some unknown alcohol in a brown bag. He chugged the rest of the bottle and threw it across the room, then made his way clumsily into the bedroom. Roxas looked from the spot on the ceiling he'd been starting at to his boyfriend. Great, he'd gone to the liquor store. The blond sat up and watched as the redhead fumbled for the light. After two minutes of Axel looking on the wrong wall for the light switch, he gave up and stumbled to the bed. Roxas stared at his boyfriend, and his boyfriend didn't seem to notice him until the blond cleared his throat.

"R-Roxas!" The redhead jumped at the sound of the blond. The blond said and did nothing as Axel hugged him tightly. "I missed you," he slurred out and left a sloppy kiss mark on Roxas's cheek. Again, no reaction from Roxas. Axel pouted. "Roxy, talk to me." He sat up straight and stared at the blond until the latter looked at him. "Roxas?" The redhead said with a small voice.

"You broke your promise," the blond finally said, obviously trying not to cry. The redhead stayed silent. "You promised me you wouldn't drink! You worked so hard on stopping and you just threw that all away… for what?! Because you couldn't get any ass?!" The blond was yelling now, digging his nails into the blanket beneath him, tears finally spilling onto his cheeks. The redhead looked at everything but the blond. He didn't want to see the pain on his blond's face illuminated by the moonlight again because of his mistake. The redhead stayed quiet, not quite sure what exactly to say that would make things better. _Well maybe if you put out more I wouldn't have to drink_ , he thought and mentally smacked himself.

"Excuse me?!" His blond yelled out. Oh shit. He had said that out loud. Axel opened his mouth to speak but Roxas beat him to it. "Don't you dare blame your drinking on me! I didn't do anything wrong! I'm sorry I'm not a little whore like all your past bitches." Roxas spat. The redhead still said nothing. Roxas started sobbing. "Fine," he said.

"What?" Axel finally said.

"If you think that I'm the cause of your drinking then… fine. If you really need sex that much…fine," the blond said, pushing Axel onto the bed and climbing on top of him. The redhead looked up at Roxas in shock. Then Roxas started taking off his shirt.

"What are you doing Roxas?" He said, pulling the blond's shirt back down.

"I'm giving you what you want," Roxas stated quietly. "I don't want to lose you again..." He trailed off, tears rolling off his face and landing on Axel's hands. Axel felt a pang of guilt in his heart as he wiped the tears from his blond's face.

"Roxas," he said softly, sitting up with the blond on his lap. When no answer came, Axel lifted his face. "Roxas," he said firmer than before. The blond opened his eyes, pain-filled blues looking into green. "I'm sorry," Axel said. "I don't know what else I can say. I'll do the best that I can, you just have to help me. I can't do it by myself. You won't lose me, I promise. I really mean it this time…"

"How am I supposed to believe that?!" Roxas shouted, anger clear on his face, hate pouring into his glare. "You promised last time too, and look what happened. I've tried to help, Axel, but you push me away every time because of stupid little shit. I can't keep doing this. You were doing _so good_. Six months, Axel, half a damn _year_ down the fucking drain…" The blond stood up abruptly. Axel winced when the heat of the blond left his body. "I can't do it anymore," Roxas said, turning away with the intent to find his clothes and get dressed. A tight grasp on his wrist stopped him.

His head snapped to look at Axel, which in hindsight was a mistake. Roxas has never before seen such panic or desperation in the redhead's eyes. Tears pooled underneath emerald, threatening to fall over dark triangle tattoos and pale cheeks. Roxas had never seen Axel cry, and the sight of it made him want to tear himself apart.

"Y-you can't leave me, Rox," the redhead choked out, his voice tight and strained. He swallowed the frog in his throat and took deep breaths. The hand around Roxas's wrist tightened and he tried to pull the blond to himself, but he was met with resistance. A sob ripped itself out of Axel's throat, and his body quivered uncontrollably. He pulled again, but this time the blond yanked his arm away, pulling the redhead out of bed and onto the ground. He laid there for a moment; partially because he was still drunk, partially because he hit his head, and partially because of shock. He listened for the sound of footsteps making their way out the door, but heard none.

"Axel…" was all the blond said. At the sound of the other's voice, Axel sat up on his knees and looked up. Another sob echoed through the room, and tears blurred out his vision. He reached out for Roxas, pulling the the blond close to him. He buried his face into Roxas's stomach, breathing in the scent that he loved so much. Long fingers found their way just under the hem of the blond's shirt and drew small circles into the skin below. He shook and sobbed and held on for dear life. His breaths came in short bursts, and his brain ran a mile a minute. He couldn't stop. He needed help. Nails dug into the sensitive skin underneath his fingers and his sobs grew louder.

When he thought he couldn't take anymore, small delicate fingers ran their way through his hair and behind his ears. The small strokes continued down his neck and over his shoulders and he held the blond even tighter than before, breath slowing down and deeper. He couldn't let him get away. Roxas had to stay. Gentle pressure against his shoulders threatened to push him away, but he squeezed tightly, breath picking back up before the strokes returned.

"Shh," Roxas let out a few times, reaching around and loosening the redhead's grasp. "Shh…" he let out again before dropping to the floor in front of the redhead. Axel grabbed him again, pulling him close into his chest buried his face into the blond's shoulder. Roxas remained motionless for a moment while the redhead clutched him so tightly that nails dug into his back through his shirt. Slowly, Roxas raised his arms and held the redhead, hands sliding up his large back and coming to rest on distressed shoulder blades. He had never wanted it to be like this.

"I-I'm sorry, Roxas," the redhead finally managed to gasp out. He was able to breath and the tears had trickled do almost nothing. He was mostly just tired. "I'm so sorry. I don't deserve anything from you. You are the best thing in my life and I'm butchering it. I'm so sorry… There's nothing I can say that will fix this. I just don't want you to leave me." The redheads grip tightened at his last statement. "I made a promise and I killed that with a bottle because I'm a piece of shit. I don't deserve you… You're too good for a waste like me. Just-" He was cut off by lips pressing hard against his own. Arms pressed his body into the other's small frame, and for just a moment he relaxed.

"Cut it out," Roxas said sternly when he pulled away, arms still holding onto the redhead tight. He pushed his forehead against the redhead's and looked into emerald eyes. "Stop it," he said quietly. "I wasn't leaving, Axel, I just… well I'm not entirely sure what I was gonna do, but I can't leave. If something happened to you, I'd be all my fault because I left and I don't want to deal with that. I just… I just don't know how much longer I can deal with _this_. Something has to change." There was a look of certainty in the blond's eyes that gave Axel chills. He knew that if this happened again, he really would lose his boyfriend. His arms squeezed the blond tighter, his nose buried into a small shoulder for a moment.

"I'll do better this time, I swear," he said quietly. The blond in his arms sighed.

"Don't tell me, Axel. Just do it," Roxas said, pulling away slightly to plant a kiss on the redhead's cheek. He slowly trailed kisses down to the corner of the redhead's mouth, and hesitated for a moment before pressing a small, chaste kiss to the redhead's drying lips. He slowly stood up, and dragged the redhead off the floor. "It's late, and I'm exhausted," he exclaimed, plopping down onto the mattress.

"Yeah, okay," Axel said, a small smile gracing his face for the first time tonight. He slid into bed, lazily wrapping his arms around the small blond, and closed his eyes. _We'll be okay,_ Axel thought, _we have to be._


End file.
